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Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 08:59:54 -0400
From: "Richard Mitten" <mittenr {AT} wwic.si.edu>
Cc: <phil.graham {AT} mailbox.uq.edu.au>
Subject: Letter to Thomas Klestil
Please find below the text of the open letter sent to Austrian President
Thomas Klestil, which appeared as a full-page ad in Der Standard,
Thursday, June 15, 2000. Please feel free to distribute this as widely as
possible.
His Excellency
Dr. Thomas Klestil
President of Austria
Dear Mr. President,
We are writing to you to express our grave concern about the recent
conviction of Univ.-Prof. Dr. Anton Pelinka for defamation of character
because of a statement he had made to a foreign television station one
year ago about Jörg Haider, recently retired FPÖ national chairman and
current Landeshauptmann of Carinthia. We were not surprised, nor
particularly worried, to learn that Haider had brought yet another lawsuit
for an alleged defamation of character: this is his right, and has become
his habit. What we do consider extremely troubling is the willingness of
an Austrian judge to countenance such a transparent attempt by Haider to
use the courts to intimidate his political critics. The verdict thus not
only aims to silence Professor Pelinka by threatening his livelihood, but,
if not forcefully opposed, it threatens to limit freedom of speech, and
therefore political debate, in Austria at a time when it is most needed.
Many Austrian citizens, and friends of Austria abroad, have expressed
their concerns about possible dangers to democratic freedoms in Austria
since the Austrian People's Party agreed to form a coalition with Haider's
Freedom Party last February. We consider Pelinka's conviction to be a
serious warning sign that should not be taken lightly. We urge you to
speak out, and to use your constitutional prerogatives and the moral
authority of your office to the fullest extent, not only to defend
Professor Pelinka, but also to help preserve the broadest possible scope
for political criticism of public officials.
As you doubtless have already heard, on May 1, 1999, the Italian
television station RAI broadcast a report on Haider's political career.
Among those interviewed for the program was University of Innsbruck
political scientist Anton Pelinka, an internationally renowned and widely
respected authority on Austrian and European affairs. During the course of
the interview he gave RAI, Pelinka stated, among other things, "In his
career, Haider has repeatedly made statements which amount to trivializing
National Socialism. Once he described death camps as penal camps. On the
whole, Haider is responsible for making certain National Socialist
positions and certain National Socialist remarks more politically
acceptable."
For having made this statement, Pelinka was convicted by a court in Vienna
of having defamed Haider's character, and fined ATS 60,000.00. While this
is not an exorbitant sum, it does not include court costs or lawyers'
fees. Yet the size of the fine is the least significant aspect of this case.
It is virtually certain that Pelinka's recent conviction (like so many
before it), will be overturned by the European Court of Human Rights in
Strasbourg, if it is not dismissed on appeal by an Austrian court, which
we hope it will be. Not infrequently, indeed, Austrian judges do come down
squarely on the side of more open political debate. For example, in a
similar suit Haider had brought against Austrian Green politician Peter
Pilz for having described Haider as the "ideological foster father of
right-wing extremism," the court found in favor of Pilz's right to express
this view. Nevertheless, all such cases involve significant expense for
the defendants (a consideration of no consequence for Haider, who is
independently wealthy), and the appeals process can take years to run its
course.
We recognize that Haider is not the first, nor the only, Austrian public
official to make use of the courts to silence political criticism. It was
condemnable when Former Chancellor Bruno Kreisky sued Peter Michael
Lingens of Profil (subsequently overturned by the European Court of Human
Rights), and it was equally reprehensible when former President Kurt
Waldheim initiated criminal proceedings against then Weltwoche editor
Hanspeter Born (subsequently withdrawn by Waldheim himself). For this
reason we are encouraged by your recent decision not to authorize a
criminal prosecution against the leader of the Vienna FPÖ, Hilmar Kabas,
for allegedly having insulted you in a particularly crude way. Though from
the press reports we have seen there was strong evidence suggesting that
Kabas had made the statement in question, and hence a conviction seemed
highly likely, you demurred, letting it be known that such statements by
themselves adequately expose the political and moral bankruptcy of their
speakers. We agree most readily that in a healthy democracy, the courts
are not the proper place to conduct, nor to adjudicate, political debate,
even when it is considered insulting.
But while Haider might not be the first to do so, no one has attempted to
use state organs to throttle political criticism more frequently or
deliberately than he. Indeed, another defamation suit brought by Haider
against Pelinka is pending for an interview the latter gave to CNN.
Politicians' ability to limit, or even suppress unwanted critical comment
by means of the defamation and libel laws has always burdened Austria's
democracy. Yet with Haider's party now in the government, and with Dieter
Böhmdorfer, Haider's former personal lawyer (and the original counsel of
record in the suits brought against Pelinka), currently serving as the
Minister of Justice, the problem has become more acute, and far more
serious. We therefore once again register in the strongest possible terms
our opposition to this recent misuse of the court system for political
purposes, and urge you to do all within your power to preserve the widest
possible arena for political expression in Austria. For it is this quality
above all which distinguishes stable democracies from other less desirable
political systems.
Sincerely,
Prof. Dr. David Abraham
University of Miami Law School
Prof. Dr. Christopher S. Allen
University of Georgia
Dr. Steven Beller
Independent Historian, Washington, D.C.
Prof. Dr. Seyla Benhabib
Harvard University
Prof. Dr. Guenter Bischof
University of New Orleans
Prof. Dr. John W. Boyer
University of Chicago
Prof. Dr. Christine Day
University of New Orleans
Prof. Dr. Istvan Deak
Columbia University
Prof. Dr. Robert Dupont
University of New Orleans
Prof. Dr. Geoff Eley
University of Michigan
Prof. Dr. Thomas C. Ertman
Harvard University
Prof. Dr. Michael Geyer
University of Chicago
Prof. Dr. David Good
University of Minnesota
Prof. Dr. Helmut Gruber
Polytechnic University, New York
Prof. Dr. Peter Hall
Harvard University
Prof. Dr. Julia Hell
University of Michigan
Prof. Dr. Jeffrey Herf
Ohio University
Prof. Dr. Michael G. Huelshoff
University of New Orleans
Prof. Dr. Tony R. Judt
New York University
Prof. Dr. John J. Kulczycki
University of Illinois at Chicago
Prof. Dr. David Large
Montana State University, Bozeman
Prof. Dr. Richard S. Levy
University of Illinois at Chicago
Prof. Dr. Charles Maier
Harvard University
Prof. Dr. Andrei S. Markovits
University of Michigan
Prof. Dr. Richard Mitten
Central European University
Prof. Dr. Johannes von Moltke
University of Michigan
Prof. Dr. Regina Morantz-Sanchez
University of Michigan
Dir. Dr. Beth Simone Noveck
Yale University Law School
Prof. Dr. Peter Pulzer
Oxford University
Prof. Dr. Anson Rabinbach
Princeton University
Prof. Dr. Jonathan Steinberg
University of Pennsylvania
Prof. Dr. Michael Steinberg
Cornell University
Prof. Dr. George Steinmetz
University of Michigan
Prof. Dr. Vladimir Tismaneanu
University of Maryland, College Park
Prof. Dr. Liliane Weissberg
University of Pennsylvania
Prof. Dr. Steven Whiting
University of Michigan
Prof. Dr. Jack Zipes
University of Minnesota
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
One Woodrow Wilson Plaza
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20523
Tel: (202) 691-4069
Fax: (202) 691-4001
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Opinions expressed in this email are my own unless otherwise stated.
Phil Graham
Lecturer (Communication)
Graduate School of Management
University of Queensland
617 3381 1083
www.geocities/pw.graham/
www.uq.edu.au/~uqpgraha
http://www.angelfire.com/ga3/philgraham/index.html
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